The Germans resisted the urge to invade Belgium which gave them time to reinforce Africa and damage the French fleets before the perfidious British entered the war. By digging in on the Western Front and using the lull in fighting to build up powerful forces there, the Germans were ready to unleash hell by 1915-16. In the East, the Austrians went on the defensive in Serbia, biding their time, but building powerful army formations to hold Galicia and push north into Russian Poland. The Russians made the critical mistake of pushing west from Poland, which allowed the Germans and Austrians to jointly cut off Poland from the north and south. Millions of the Czar's troops perished, cut off, starving, and unable to fight their way east.

In Africa, colonies of the oppressive Entente fell one by one to German troops and powerful fleets used Africa as a base to sweep the Atlantic clear of Allied shipping. By mid 1915, with the entry of Bulgaria, Romania, and the Ottomans into the Central Powers, the Entente were ready to call it quits and the Treaty of Berlin was signed. More than 8 million had died, but Germany and Austria-Hungary emerged triumphant, unified, and powerful.